Ridiculous History

The 36th President of the United States is often recalled as a complex, flawed individual responsible for profoundly important legislation. However, he was also a notorious telephone fanatic, installing loads of phones in both the White House and his Texas ranch. Here's the kicker: He recorded almost everything. Tune in as the guys see a... pretty strange behind-the-scenes portrait of President Ly...

There's no way around it: James Smithson had a tough life. Yet his unhappiness may, in an indirect way, be the prime reason the Smithsonian Institute exists today. In part two of this special two-part episode, special guest Lizzie Peabody, the host of Sidedoor, delves into the story of how James Smithson donated a massive windfall to the United States -- and, at the same time, gave them an enormou...

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum, education, and research complex -- but how did it get here? Join Ben, Noel and Max as they welcome Lizzie Peabody, host of Sidedoor, the Smithsonian Institution's own official podcast, to learn the stunning origin story of their favorite museums. In part one of this special two-part episode, we meet a young man named James Smithson. See om...

For centuries people from all walks of life sought to eliminate friends, strangers and enemies using the devious, subtle poison known as arsenic. Arsenic poisoning became such a well-known method of murder that people in Britain began calling it "inheritance powder". But what made it so popular? How did this particular substance become the stuff of history? Join Ben and Noel as they delve into the...

New York was a pretty terrible place in the late 1800s. The population was riddled with disease, crime, and terror -- things were especially bad for the virtual army of street urchins. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max learn how one man created an innovative (and imperfect) system to save New York's orphans: shipping them to the Midwest en masse, and auctioning them off to farmers. See omnystu...

Long-time listeners will know Ben, Noel and Max are big fans of their peer podcast, Ridiculous Crime -- but what happens when the guys join forces with Elizabeth, Zaron and Dave? Tune in for the long-awaited conclusion to our first team-up, as Ridiculous Crime and Ridiculous History seek to stump each other in a lively game of 20 Questions, all based on strange historical flexes. See omnystudio.co...

Nowadays people across the planet are familiar with the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. People even celebrate the anniversary of the event, often interpreting it as a protest againt overarching government authority. However, as Ben and Noel learn in today's Classic episode, the real story is a bit more complicated. Some historians believe Fawkes and the crew he worked for were set up b...

Commonly regarded as one of humanity's premiere works on the art of pursuing and securing power, Niccolò Machiavelli's book "The Prince" has become so popular that the name of its author is synonymous with unethical behavior in the modern day. However, it turns out that Machiavelli himself wasn't the first proponent of ruthless behavior -- the author (or authors) of ancient India's Arthashastra ou...

What makes a flavor "artificial," exactly? Why doesn't banana candy taste like bananas in the grocery store? What on Earth is the flavor behind "Juicy Fruit" -- spoiler, the answer will surprise you. In the second part of this week's special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the delightful origin of modern synthetic flavor science.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nowadays U.S. grocery shoppers can be reasonably certain that the foods they purchase are safe (if not healthy). Yet this wasn't always the case. In today's episode, we explore the story of one extremely driven, imperfect man, on a mission to clean up America's food industry. Harvey Wiley didn't think it was enough to conduct conventional safety studies, either -- he jumped straight to human exper...

For most of human history, people were locked in a continual struggle to find food and avoid starvation. Eating for pleasure wasn't really a thing the common person could do. However, as time went on and technology improved, eating became as much a recreation as a hobby -- and this led civilization to the fascinating, ridiculous world of artificial flavors. In the first part of this week's special...

At first glance, the Vatican's security service makes no sense. The Swiss Guard is an elite force from, well, Switzerland. So what the heck are these guys from a notoriously neutral nation doing so far down south? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore the origin and evolution of the world-famous Swiss Guard. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's no secret that espionage and spycraft are common tools in the murky realm of geopolitics -- but not every spy is some sort of James Bond type character in a bespoke suit with a penchant for martinis. In fact, some spies aren't even human. Join Ben and Noel as they dive -- and fly -- into the strange stories of animal spies and nonhuman government operatives, from crows to dolphins, sea lions,...

Behind the heavily-guarded walls of the palace, the Ottoman Empire's harem was a world all its own. In the second part of this special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max delve into the dangerous world of deceit, espionage and intrigue that defined the lives of people from across the empire, often taken by force from their homes to serve the Sultan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

For centuries, westerners devoured lurid, embellished stories about the mysteries of Near Eastern culture -- and, chief amid their fascinations, the idea of the Sultan's harem. But what exactly was this thing, and how did it actually work? In the first part of this two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max bust some myths about the harem system that continue, weirdly enough, in the modern day. See omnys...

Star Trek is one of the world's most well-known sci-fi franchises, spanning decades in film, TV, books, games and more. While it's had its fair share of lighthearted moments (hello, Tribbles!), its vision of a more equal, peaceful human civilization has made a profound impact on real-world politics and race relations. Join the guys as they explore how a single conversation with a surprising Star T...

As Popeye's popularity continued to skyrocket through the Great Depression and the second World War, his pantheon of related characters only grew. And, spoiler: not all of the characters aged well. In the second part of this special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore how Popeye created a surprising amount of American slang, became a propaganda tool for the allies, and finally answer the q...

Nowadays Popeye the Sailor Man is a world-famous icon, represented in almost any form of media you can imagine. Yet this wasn't always the case. In part one of this special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max delve into the story of how Popeye started. Tune in to learn a ridiculous, one-off joke character in a comic strip called Thimble Theatre quickly became the most popular draw of the series, l...

Every city has its drawbacks -- parking, for example, or crime, or the price of a decent pizza slice -- but in the 1800s London faced a particularly unusual and disgusting problem: the city literally stank. And this wasn't an occasional whiff of urine or hot garbage from an alleyway, oh no. Instead, a pervasive stench permeated the area, an odor so strong that it disrupted Parliament, forcing the...

The founders of the United States knew the Constitution wasn't perfect, and so they baked in a process for revising their original document. Today, the first few amendments are collectively known as the Bill of Rights -- but, as returning guest AJ Jacobs, author of "The Year of Living Constitutionally" reveals, there have been tons of other proposed amendments that didn't make the cut. Tune in to...

Something like 60% of Americans have never fully read the US Constitution. How did such a short document become one of the most important pieces of writing in human history -- and why are some parts of it arguably ridiculous? Ben, Noel and Max welcome returning guest AJ Jacobs, author of "The Year of Living Constitutionally," to learn more about this world-changing work... and how later leaders bu...

Nowadays smartphones are an ubiquitous part of many civilizations, but not so long ago telephones of any sort were a rare commodity -- and the infrastructure was enormously expensive. When telephones hit the mass market, companies focused on densely-populated urban areas, leaving rural communities with no hope of getting a phone line. Until, that is, a group of MacGyver-esque farmers figured out a...

Imagine grabbing a box of (at best) mid cereal, only to discover the greatest game, free withing the box. Imagine making an entire game based on an oft-maligned Olympic mascot! In the second episode of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the ridiculous past, present and future of video game tie-ins.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cast your memories back to the strange days of the 1980s and 1990s -- boy howdy, things were weird. At some point, marketing executives the world round realized that video games could be a new, powerful field of advertising. In the first part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max dive into the ridiculous evolution of video game tie-ins, from soda pop mascots to the notorious Noid of D...

True story: once upon a time, both Canada and the United States once had bizarre laws banning the production or importation of margarine -- and prohibition naturally led to crime. Today's classic episode asks: What launched the margarine bootlegging industry? Join the guys as they explore the startling, strange story of the Big Butter versus margarine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...